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To reduce agricultural pollutant emission (APE) and postharvest loss of grain (PHLG), the Chinese government enacted a series of subsidy policies; however, the profit-oriented supply chain members are seriously lacking or reducing APE and PHLG efforts. To address this issue, we considered as the research objective a grain supply chain consisting of a producer, a retailer and the government. We proposed the concept and functional expressions of supply chain members' reduction efforts for APE and PHLG. We then proposed two main variables: the environmental innovation subsidy coefficient and the quantity attenuation factor of grain. According to the actual situation, four investment subsidy models were proposed. The results showed the following: i) supply chain members' equilibrium prices and incomes were negatively correlated with the degree of the producer's APE effort regardless of whether the supply chain members were investing in PHLG technology; ii) when the government subsidises APE and PHLG technology for other supply chain members, the government should stop subsidising the retailer's inputs in reduction loss technology to ensure that the government's own interests are not damaged; iii) the government's income was restricted by the degree of its subsidising of other supply chain members. This study provides a theoretical support for the government to formulate appropriate policies to reduce APE and PHLG, which is important for maintaining national food security.

In thermal management applications using two-phase flow boiling, rectangular microchannels hold significant promise due to their ease of manufacturing and effective heat transfer characteristics. In this work, we combined experimental and theoretical analyses to propose a theoretical model based on thin liquid film evaporation for predicting heat transfer performance in rectangular cross-sectional microchannels. The heat transfer model is segmented into five zones based on two-phase flow patterns and transient liquid film thickness. These zones represent different flow boiling heat transfer mechanisms over time in microchannels: the liquid slug zone, elongated bubble zone, long-side wall dryout zone, corner liquid evaporation zone, and full dryout zone. The new model comprehensively explains experimental phenomena observed, including long-side wall dryout and thinning of the liquid film on the short-side wall. To validate our model, numerical solutions were computed to study the spatial and temporal variations in heat transfer coefficients. The results exhibited a consistent trend with experimental data regarding average heat transfer coefficients. We also analyzed factors influencing flow boiling characteristics, such as microchannel aspect ratio, hydraulic diameter, measurement location, fluid mass flux, and wall heat flux.

Lithium-ion battery State of Health (SOH) estimation is an essential issue in battery management systems. In order to better estimate battery SOH, Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) is used to establish a model to estimate lithium-ion battery SOH. The Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) is used to automatically adjust and optimize the parameters of ELM to improve estimation accuracy. Firstly, collect cyclic aging data of the battery and extract five characteristic quantities related to battery capacity from the battery charging curve and increment capacity curve. Use Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) method to analyze the correlation between battery capacity and five characteristic quantities. Then, an ELM is used to build the capacity estimation model of the lithium-ion battery based on five characteristics, and a PSO is introduced to optimize the parameters of the capacity estimation model. The proposed method is validated by the degradation experiment of the lithium-ion battery under different conditions. The results show that the battery capacity estimation model based on ELM and PSO has better accuracy and stability in capacity estimation, and the average absolute percentage error is less than 1%.

This study aimed to solve the problems of Ca2+ crosslinked sodium alginate hydrogel film, such as easy syneresis, single three-dimensional network structure, and poor thermomechanical properties. Specifically, sodium alginate and gelatin were used as filming substrates, calcium carbonate and gluconolactone were used as crosslinking agents to prepare hydrogel films by casting method. To investigate the effects of different ratios of gelatin or sodium alginate (0:6, 1:6, 2:6, 3:6, 4:6, 5:6) on the hydrogel films physical performance. In this experiment, the intermolecular forces of hydrogel films were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and the physical properties of hydrogel films were characterized by microstructure, swelling ratio, gel fraction, water contact angle, mechanical properties and thermal properties. The results showed that the interaction between gelatin and sodium alginate was mainly hydrogen bonding and polyelectrolyte interaction. The introduction of gelatin effectively improved the three-dimensional network structure of the single sodium alginate hydrogel film, increased the gel fraction and hydrophobicity of the hydrogel film, and enhanced the mechanical properties and thermal properties of the hydrogel film. However, the ratio of gelatin/sodium alginate was too high resulting in poor compatibility and mechanical properties of gelatin and sodium alginate. In summary, the tensile strength (29.6 MPa), elastic modulus (164.99 MPa), gel fraction (38.91%) and swelling ratio (2942.50%) of the hydrogel film were optimal when the ratio of gelatin/sodium alginate was 3:6, at which time the physical properties of the hydrogel film were optimal and had potential applications in many fields.

AbstractFor Chinese government, designing appropriate subsidy policies to mobilize chain members’ reduction effort about agricultural pollution emission (hereafter, PE) and grain post-harvest loss (hereafter, GPHL) is an urgent problem to be solved. Therefore, a grain supply chain with one producer, one retailer and government were chosen as our study subject. We proposed concepts and function expressions of stakeholders’ reduction efforts on PE and GPHL, and the demand function was modified. Four investment and subsidy models were analyzed. Findings: 1) stakeholders’ reduction efforts about GPHL and PE are positively related to their incomes. In the future, government can try to subsidize chain members’ reduction efforts on GPHL and PE. 2) Within a certain range, the government’s variable subsidy will motivate the producer and the retailer to reduce their PE and GPHL, otherwise, the government should adopt a fixed subsidy. 3) No matter whether supply chain members invest in GPHL reduction technology or not, both the equilibrium prices and revenues of stakeholders have a positive relationship with the effort level of PE reduction.

Limited follow-up data is available on the recovery of Omicron COVID-19 patients after acute illness. It is also critical to understand persistence of neutralizing antibody (NAb) and of T-cell mediated immunity and the role of hybrid immunity in preventing SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. This prospective cohort study included Omicron COVID-19 individuals from April to June 2022 in Shanghai, China, during a large epidemic caused by the Omicron BA.2 variant. A total of 8945 patients from three medical centres were included in the follow up programme from November 2022 to February 2023. Of 6412 individuals enrolled for the long COVID analysis, 605 (9.4%) individuals experienced at least one sequelae, mainly had fatigue and mental symptoms specific to Omicron BA.2 infection compared with other common respiratory tract infections. During the second-visit, 548 (12.1%) cases of Omicron reinfection were identified. Hybrid immunity with full and booster vaccination had reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection by 0.29-fold (95% CI: 0.63–0.81) and 0.23-fold (95% CI: 0.68–0.87), respectively. For 469 participants willing to the hospital during the first visit, those who received full (72 [IQR, 36–156]) or booster (64 [IQR, 28–132]) vaccination had significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers than those with incomplete vaccination (36 [IQR, 16–79]). Moreover, non-reinfection cases had higher neutralizing antibody titers (64 [IQR, 28–152]) compared to reinfection cases (32 [IQR, 20–69]).

Background: Endoscopic therapy is an optional strategy for the treatment of esophageal cancer (EC) under an early stage, especially stage T1a. However, its efficacy in the treatment of T1b EC has not been thoroughly assessed. We investigated the efficacy of esophagectomy, endoscopic therapy, as well as chemoradiotherapy in patients with T1bN0M0 EC. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (SEER) was employed to identify patients diagnosed with T1bN0M0 EC. Patient demographics were compared among the endoscopic therapy, esophagectomy, and chemoradiotherapy groups. Our study employed Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression model to evaluate patient outcomes and long-term survival rates. The overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were compared among patients with EC who underwent endoscopic therapy or esophagectomy, employing propensity score matching (PSM). Results: A total of 820 patients diagnosed with T1bN0M0 EC were identified. The number of patients who received endoscopic therapy, esophagectomy, and chemoradiotherapy was 173, 556, and 91, respectively. Patients subjected to endoscopic therapy and esophagectomy had greatly longer OS and CSS than those who underwent chemoradiotherapy. Patients treated with esophagectomy had longer OS than endoscopic therapy patients, but there were no differences in CSS between the two groups. PSM generated 153 patient pairs among T1bN0M0 patients, demonstrating that both the esophagectomy and endoscopic therapy groups exhibited comparable OS and CSS rates. Conclusion: Endoscopic therapy and esophagectomy were associated with a significant survival advantage compared with chemoradiotherapy in patients with T1bN0M0 EC. In contrast, after PSM, among the EC patients with stage T1bN0M0, OS and CSS did not differ after endoscopic therapy or esophagectomy. These results indicate that endoscopic therapy could be a viable alternative to esophagectomy in patients diagnosed with T1bN0M0 EC.

The effects of different inoculation levels (105, 106 and 107 CFU/g) of Lactobacillus sakei on the quality characteristics of low-sodium dry sausages were investigated in this study. The uninoculated dry sausage was the control, and the moisture content, water activity, pH, lactic acid bacteria count, color and shear force were measured on days 0, 3, 6 and 9, respectively. Meanwhile, the flavor characteristics of the dry sausages on day 9 were analyzed by combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electronic nose. The results showed that pH of dry sausages inoculated with 106 and 107 CFU/g L. sakei significantly decreased at the end of fermentation (P0.05). The inoculation of L. sakei reduced the contents of aldehydes, and only the inoculation of 106 CFU/g increased the contents of alcohols, acids and esters (P

Abstract Background Ozone as an air pollutant is gradually becoming a threat to people's health. However, the effect of ozone exposure on risk of developing diabetes, a fast-growing global metabolic disease, remains controversial. Objective To evaluate the impact of ambient ozone exposure on the incidence rate of type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes mellitus. Method We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases before July 9, 2022, to determine relevant literature. Data were extracted after quality evaluation according to the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) and the agency for healthcare research and quality (AHRQ) standards, and a meta-analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between ozone exposure and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The heterogeneity test, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias were performed using Stata 16.0. Results Our search identified 667 studies from three databases, 19 of which were included in our analysis after removing duplicate and ineligible studies. Among the remaining studies, three were on T1D, five were on T2D, and eleven were on GDM. The result showed that ozone exposure was positively correlated with T2D [effect size (ES) = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.11] and GDM [pooled odds ratio (OR) = 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.03]. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that ozone exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy might raise the risk of GDM. However, no significant association was observed between ozone exposure and T1D. Conclusion Long-term exposure to ozone may increase the risk of T2D, and daily ozone exposure during pregnancy was a hazard factor for developing GDM. Decreasing ambient ozone pollution may reduce the burden of both diseases.

Previous studies primarily focused on the single metal exposure and one-sided glucose metabolism disordered states, leading to conflicting results. Herein, we combined diabetes and prediabetes as abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM) to describe the effect of metal mixture exposure on it. Eligible data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2016. In the generalized linear model (GLM), Cd (OR: 1.060, 95 %CI: 1.032–1.089, P value

BackgroundPostherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common, complex, and refractory type of neuropathic pain. Several systematic reviews support the efficacy of acupuncture and related treatments for PHN. Nevertheless, the efficacy of various acupuncture-related treatments for PHN remains debatable.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture-related treatments for PHN, identify the most effective acupuncture-related treatments, and expound on the current inadequacies and prospects in the applications of acupuncture-related therapies.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Web of Science, Google Scholar, four Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biomedical, Chongqing VIP, and Wan Fang databases), clinical research registration platform (World Health Organization International Clinical Trial Registration platform, China Clinical Trial Registration Center) for relevant studies. We also examined previous meta-analyses; gray literature; and reference lists of the selected studies. We then evaluated the risk of bias in the included studies and performed a Bayesian multiple network meta-analysis.ResultsWe included 29 randomized controlled trials comprising 1,973 patients, of which five studies showed a high risk of bias. The pairwise meta-analysis results revealed that the efficacy of all acupuncture-related treatments for pain relief related to PHN was significantly better than antiepileptics. The network meta-analysis results showed that pricking and cupping plus antiepileptics were the most effective treatment, followed by electroacupuncture (EA) plus antiepileptics for pain relief in patients with PHN. EA plus antiepileptics ranked the best regarding reduced Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores in patients with PHN. No results were found regarding the total response rate or quality of life in this study. Acupuncture-related treatments showed a lower incidence of adverse events than that of antiepileptics.ConclusionAcupuncture-related therapies are potential treatment options for PHN and are safe. Pricking and cupping plus antiepileptics, are the most effective acupuncture-related techniques for pain relief, while EA plus antiepileptics is the best acupuncture-related technique for improving PHN-related insomnia and depression symptoms. However, owing to the limitations of this study, these conclusions should be cautiously interpreted, and future high-quality studies are needed.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021226422, identifier CRD42021226422.

BackgroundIntracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) is a primary cause of ischemic stroke. In addition to dyslipidemia, inflammation has been recognized as a potential pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. It remains unknown whether there is a link between transthyretin and ICAS as an inflammatory index.MethodsConsecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University between January 2019 and June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Blood samples were collected from all patients within 24 h of admission to detect their serum transthyretin levels. ICAS was defined as at least one intracranial artery stenosis on vascular examination with a degree of stenosis ≥50%. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent factors associated with ICAS. Restricted cubic spline models were used to depict patterns in the association between serum transthyretin levels and ICAS.ResultsIn total, 637 patients with acute ischemic stroke were included in this study, of whom 267 (41.9%) had ICAS. Compared with the patients without ICAS, serum transthyretin levels in patients with ICAS were significantly lower (226.3 ± 56.5 vs. 251.0 ± 54.9 mg/L; p < 0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders, patients in the lowest tertile showed a significant increase in ICAS compared to those in the highest tertile (odds ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–3.05; p = 0.016). This negative linear association is also observed in the restricted cubic spline model. However, this association may only be observed in men. Age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, hemoglobin A1c level, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level were independently associated with ICAS.ConclusionsDecreased serum transthyretin levels are associated with a more severe ICAS burden in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Our findings suggest that transthyretin may play a role in the pathogenesis of ICAS and provide insight into the control of inflammation for the treatment of ICAS.

ObjectivesVaricella-zoster virus (VZV) can induce herpes zoster (HZ) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Immune cells play an important role in regulating HZ and PHN pathogenesis, but the dynamic immune profiles and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to screen dynamic immune signatures during HZ progression and elucidate the mechanism of VZV-specific T cells in PHN.MethodsWe used cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF) to analyze peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) samples from 45 patients with HZ and eight age-sex-matched healthy controls, eight PHN samples and seven non-PHN samples. Correlations between the immune subsets and clinical pain-related scores were performed. Further, the characteristics of VZV-specific T cells between PHN and non-PHN patients were evaluated by VZV peptide pools stimulation. The expression level of cytokines, including granzyme B, interleukin (IL)-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α was performed via cytometric bead array. Finally, we analyzed the alteration of Ca2+ signals in dorsal root ganglion (DRG)-derived cells after TNF-α stimulation.ResultsWe investigated the dynamic characteristics of the immune landscape of peripheral blood samples of patients with HZ and PHN, and depicted two major dynamic signatures in NK, CD4+ and CD8+ T subsets in patients with HZ, which closely correlated with clinical pain-related scores. The frequency of PD-1+CD4+ T cells, VZV-specific PD-1+CD4+ T cells, and the amount of TNF-α produced by VZV-specific T cells were higher in patients with PHN than without PHN. Furthermore, we showed that TNF-α could induce calcium influx in DRG-derived cells in a dose-dependent manner.ConclusionsOur results profiled the dynamic signatures of immune cells in patients with HZ and highlighted the important role of VZV-specific T cells in the pathogenesis of PHN.

Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, is highly harmful for walnut production in the world. To better control this disease, the inhibitory effects of 3 fungicides against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides were determined, and the results showed that prochloraz had better inhibitory activity. Through comparative metabolomics analysis, 311 metabolites might be associated with the walnut peel response to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides under prochloraz treatment. Furthermore, we supposed that the phenylpropanoid pathway might be induced by prochloraz to resist Colletotrichum gloeosporioides infection. In conclusion, the upregulated metabolites in the phenylpropanoid pathway might be related to synthesize lignin to further form a cell wall against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides infection.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized pathologically by abnormal aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) in the brain and clinically by fine movement deficits at the early stage, but the roles of α-Syn and associated neural circuits and neuromodulator bases in the development of fine movement deficits in PD are poorly understood, in part due to the lack of appropriate behavioral testing paradigms and PD models without motor confounding effects. Here, we coupled two unique behavioral paradigms with two PD models to reveal the following: (i) Focally injecting α-Syn fibrils into the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) and the transgenic expression of A53T-α-Syn in the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN, PITX3-IRES2-tTA/tetO-A53T mice) selectively impaired forelimb fine movements induced by the single-pellet reaching task. (ii) Injecting α-Syn fibers into the SN suppressed the coordination of cranial and forelimb fine movements induced by the sunflower seed opening test. (iii) Treatments with the adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) antagonist KW6002 reversed the impairment of forelimb and cranial fine movements induced by α-Syn aggregates in the SN. These findings established a causal role of α-Syn in the SNc-DLS dopaminergic pathway in the development of forelimb and cranial fine movement deficits and suggest a novel therapeutic strategy to improve fine movements in PD by A2AR antagonists.

The disturbance in gut microbiota composition and metabolism has been implicated in the process of pathogenic bacteria infection. However, the characteristics of the microbiota and the metabolic interaction of commensals–host during pathogen invasion remain more than vague. In this study, the potential associations of gut microbes with disturbed lipid metabolism in mice upon carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CRE) infection were explored by the biochemical and multi-omics approaches including metagenomics, metabolomics and lipidomics, and then the key metabolites–reaction–enzyme–gene interaction network was constructed. Results showed that intestinal Erysipelotrichaceae family was strongly associated with the hepatic total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol, as well as a few sera and fecal metabolites involved in lipid metabolism such as 24, 25-dihydrolanosterol. A high-coverage lipidomic analysis further demonstrated that a total of 529 lipid molecules was significantly enriched and 520 were depleted in the liver of mice infected with CRE. Among them, 35 lipid species showed high correlations (|r| > 0.8 and p < 0.05) with the Erysipelotrichaceae family, including phosphatidylglycerol (42:2), phosphatidylglycerol (42:3), phosphatidylglycerol (38:5), phosphatidylcholine (42:4), ceramide (d17:1/16:0), ceramide (d18:1/16:0) and diacylglycerol (20:2), with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9. In conclusion, the systematic multi-omics study improved the understanding of the complicated connection between the microbiota and the host during pathogen invasion, which thereby is expected to lead to the future discovery and establishment of novel control strategies for CRE infection.

The lower incidence of metabolic diseases of women than men and the increasing morbidity of metabolic disorders of menopausal women indicated that hormones produced by ovaries may affect homeostasis of glucose and lipid metabolism, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To explore the functions of ovaries on regulating glucose and lipid metabolism in females, 8 weeks old C57BL/6 mice were preformed ovariectomy and administrated with normal food diet (NFD) or high fat diet (HFD). Six weeks after ovariectomy, blood biochemical indexes were tested and the morphology and histology of livers were checked. The expression levels of genes related to glucose and lipid metabolism in liver were detected through transcriptome analysis, qPCR and western blot assays. 16S rDNA sequence was conducted to analyze the gut microbiota of mice with ovariectomy and different diets. The serum total cholesterol (TC) was significantly increased in ovariectomized (OVX) mice fed with NFD (OVXN), and serum low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly increased in both OVXN mice and OVX mice fed with HFD (OVXH). The excessive glycogen storage was found in livers of 37.5% mice from OVXN group, and lipid accumulation was detected in livers of the other 62.5% OVXN mice. The OVXN group was further divided into OVXN-Gly and OVXN-TG subgroups depending on histological results of the liver. Lipid drops in livers of OVXH mice were more and larger than other groups. The expression level of genes related with lipogenesis was significantly increased and the expression level of genes related with β-oxidation was significantly downregulated in the liver of OVXN mice. Ovariectomy also caused the dysbiosis of intestinal flora of OVXN and OVXH mice. These results demonstrated that hormones generated by ovaries played important roles in regulating hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism and communicating with the gut microbiota in females.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is regarded as the main etiological risk factor in the process of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as it promotes an immunosuppressive microenvironment that is partially mediated by the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) signaling pathway. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of HBV–related HCC is indeed more immunosuppressive than microenvironments not associated with viruses. And compared to TME in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected HCC, TME of HBV-related HCC is less vascularized and presents different immune components resulting in similar immunosuppression. However, few studies are focusing on the specific side effects and efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy in HBV-related HCC patients, as well as on the underlying mechanism. Herein, we reviewed the basic research focusing on potential TME alteration caused by HBV infection, especially in HCC patients. Moreover, we reviewed PD-1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy clinical trials to clarify the safety and efficacy of this newly developed treatment in the particular circumstances of HBV infection. We found that patients with HBV-related HCC displayed an acceptable safety profile similar to those of non-infected HCC patients. However, we could not determine the antiviral activity of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade because standard anti-viral therapies were conducted in all of the current clinical trials, which made it difficult to distinguish the potential influence of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade on HBV infection. Generally, the objective response rates (ORRs) of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy did not differ significantly between virus-positive and virus-negative patients, except that disease control rates (DCRs) were obviously lower in HBV-infected HCC patients.

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that is toxic to almost every human organ. Oral supplementation with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has been reported to alleviate cadmium toxicity. However, research on the mitigation of cadmium toxicity by LAB is still limited to inorganic cadmium, which is not representative of the varied forms of cadmium ingested daily. In this study, different foodborne forms of cadmium were adopted to establish an in vivo toxicity model, including cadmium–glutathione, cadmium–citrate, and cadmium–metallothionein. The ability of Lactobacillus plantarum CCFM8610 to reduce the toxic effects of these forms of cadmium was further investigated. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabolomics technologies based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) were adopted for the exploration of relevant protective mechanisms. The results demonstrated that the consumption of CCFM8610 can reduce the content of cadmium in mice and relieve the oxidative stress caused by different food–derived forms of cadmium, indicating that CCFM8610 has a promising effect on the remediation of the toxic effects of cadmium food poisoning. Meanwhile, protective effects on gut microflora and serum metabolites might be an important mechanism for probiotics to alleviate cadmium toxicity. This study provides a theoretical basis for the application of L. plantarum CCFM8610 to alleviate human cadmium poisoning.

Abstract This article deals with applications of optimal control to aerospace problems with a focus on modern geometric optimal control tools and numerical continuation techniques. Geometric optimal control is a theory combining optimal control with various concepts of differential geometry. The ultimate objective is to derive optimal synthesis results for general classes of control systems. Continuation or homotopy methods consist in solving a series of parameterized problems, starting from a simple one to end up by continuous deformation with the initial problem. They help overcoming the difficult initialization issues of the shooting method. The combination of geometric control and homotopy methods improves the traditional techniques of optimal control theory. A nonacademic example of optimal attitude-trajectory control of (classical and airborne) launch vehicles, treated in details, illustrates how geometric optimal control can be used to analyze finely the structure of the extremals. This theoretical analysis helps building an efficient numerical solution procedure combining shooting methods and numerical continuation. Chattering is also analyzed and it is shown how to deal with this issue in practice.

By using meteorology and pollution observation data from Zhejiang province, and data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Global Data Assimilation System from 1 June 2013, to 31 May 2016, we analyzed air quality characteristics in Ningbo and applied the HYSPLIT model to do backward trajectory clustering statistics for pollution cases of moderate, heavy and severe (henceforth referred to as moderate-and-above) levels. The results indicated that the percentage of moderate-and-above pollution was approximately 6%, which mostly occurred from November to February, with the primary pollutant being particulate matter with a diameter of ≤2.5 μm; Moderate-and-above pollution was mainly caused by pollutants from three types of trajectories (type mx, type 1, and type 2), with type 2 differing significantly from types 1 and mx. Type 2 occurred in stable boundary layers, whereas types mx and 1 occurred in unstable and conditionally unstable layers respectively. These three trajectory types were all related to cold air, but type 2 was weaker than the other two. Analysis of typical cases of various pollution types revealed that a heavy pollution outbreak was due to continuous superposition of pollutants. The input particles most likely originated from the northwest. The upstream situation was the focus of investigation to assist in local pollution forecasting.

Diomus guilavoguii Duverger, 1994, an adventive species, is recorded from Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), China for the first time. Larvae of D. guilavoguii were collected in association with an invasive mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams & Granara de Willink, 1992, infesting papayas, cassava and several ornamental plants. However, little has been known about the biology of D. guilavoguii, especially the morphology of their larvae since their original descriptions.Diomus guilavoguii Duverger, 1994, native to Conakry, Guinea (Africa), is recorded as established in Guangdong Province for the first time. However, it is unclear when and how D. guilavoguii spread from Africa to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Both the adult and larva feed on the invasive mealybug Paracoccus marginatus Williams & Granara de Willink (Hemiptera, Pseudococcidae) that infests papaya and ornamental plants. In this paper, the external morphology and male genitalia of adults are re-described. The detailed descriptions of larva and pupa are also provided for the first time. The status of D. guilavoguii and D. hennessyi Fürsch, 1987 are discussed.

Radiotherapy is one of the main modalities of cancer treatment. However, tumor recurrence following radiotherapy occurs in many cancer patients. A key to solving this problem is the optimization of radiosensitivity. In recent years, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which affect the occurrence and development of tumors through a variety of mechanisms, have become a popular research topic. LncRNAs have been found to influence radiosensitivity by regulating various mechanisms, including DNA damage repair, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, cancer stem cells regulation, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and autophagy. LncRNAs are expected to become a potential therapeutic target for radiotherapy in the future. This article reviews recent advances in the role and mechanism of lncRNAs in tumor radiosensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that the sciatic nerve has neurotrophic activity, and nerve regeneration, differentiation, and axon outgrowth can be modulated by different sciatic nerve preparations. However, numerous animals may have to be sacrificed to obtain enough sciatic nerves to make a sciatic nerve preparation. Some studies have demonstrated that the role of sciatic nerve preparations in neural differentiation depends on the neurotrophins that Schwann cells secrete, and these factors are highly conserved among different species. To reduce the use of experimental animals, in this study, we made a leachate by using the sciatic nerve of cattle and explored its effect on neuronal differentiation of rat PC12 cells (a useful model for studying neuronal differentiation). Results showed the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells treated with the cattle sciatic nerve leachate for 3, 6, and 9 days was significantly improved, and the expressions of ß3-tubulin and microtubule-associated protein 2 (two neuron-specific proteins) were increased. Moreover, the ERK1/2 signaling pathway was activated after PC12 cells were incubated with cattle sciatic nerve leachate for 9 days. Thus, a sciatic nerve leachate obtained from cattle can effectively induce neuronal differentiation of rat PC12 cells via ERK1/2 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the minimum time planar tilting maneuver of a spacecraft, from the theoretical as well as from the numerical point of view, with a particular focus on the chattering phenomenon. We prove that there exist optimal chattering arcs when a singular junction occurs. Our study is based on the Pontryagin Maximum Principle and on results by M.I. Zelikin and V.F. Borisov. We give sufficient conditions on the terminal values under which the optimal solutions do not contain any singular arc, and are bang-bang with a finite number of switchings. Moreover, we implement sub-optimal strategies by replacing the chattering control with a fixed number of piecewise constant controls. Numerical simulations illustrate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the minimal time problem for the guidance of a rocket, whose motion is described by its attitude kinematics and dynamics but also by its orbit dynamics. Our approach is based on a refined geometric study of the extremals coming from the application of the Pontryagin maximum principle. Our analysis reveals the existence of singular arcs of higher order in the optimal synthesis, causing the occurrence of a chattering phenomenon, i.e., of an infinite number of switchings when trying to connect bang arcs with a singular arc. We establish a general result for bi-input control-affine systems, providing sufficient conditions under which the chattering phenomenon occurs. We show how this result can be applied to the problem of the guidance of the rocket. Based on this preliminary theoretical analysis, we implement efficient direct and indirect numerical methods, combined with numerical continuation, in order to compute numerically the optimal solutions of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]